U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer blocked President Donald Trump‘s use of the California National Guard for a third time on Wednesday, despite an appeals court halting Breyer’s two previous orders stopping the deployment of troops to Los Angeles.
Breyer granted a request by California officials to declare Trump’s federalization and deployment of National Guard troops unlawful, citing extensions after the initial deployment of troops to Los Angeles following unrest in June and the administration’s subsequent deployment of some federalized California troops to Portland and Chicago. Breyer paused the effect of his order until Dec. 15, allowing for the Justice Department to appeal the ruling to a federal appeals court in the meantime.
“Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, Defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way — let alone significantly. What’s more, Defendants have sent California Guardsmen into other states, effectively creating a national police force made up of state troops,” Breyer said in his ruling.
“In response to Plaintiffs’ motion to enjoin this conduct, Defendants take the position that, after a valid initial federalization, all subsequent re-federalizations are completely, and forever, unreviewable by the courts. Defendants’ position is contrary to law,” he wrote.
Breyer described the Trump administration’s position that the president’s order to federalize National Guard troops is unreviewable as “shocking,” rejecting that argument.
“Indeed, at the motion hearing, Defendants confirmed their position that, after an initial federalization, all extensions of federalization orders are utterly unreviewable, forever,” he wrote.
“That is shocking. Adopting Defendants’ interpretation of Section 12406 would permit a president to create a perpetual police force comprised of state troops, so long as they were first federalized lawfully,” Breyer added.
Breyer previously ruled that Trump’s initial federalization and deployment of National Guard troops was unlawful in June, later ruling the troops violated federal law by allegedly acting as civilian law enforcement in September. Both rulings were halted by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, allowing the deployment of troops to Los Angeles to continue uninterrupted. The DOJ has until Monday to secure a pause of Breyer’s latest ruling to prevent an interruption in the troop deployment.
APPEALS COURT ALLOWS DC NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO CONTINUE
The president’s use of troops in Los Angeles was the first instance where his National Guard deployments faced a legal battle. While the California deployment has been allowed to continue, Trump’s deployments of troops in Portland and Chicago have been halted by federal courts. The block on the deployment in Chicago was appealed to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, a petition on which the justices have yet to rule.
The deployments in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago have been aimed at protecting federal assets and officials amid unrest over federal immigration operations, while the president’s deployment of troops to Washington, D.C., has been aimed at curbing crime. The deployment in the district was allowed to continue by a federal appeals court earlier this month, after being blocked by a federal judge last month.
